Miserable
by Rune-Spirit
Summary: oneshot ShikaxIno Ino's feeling selfconcious and Shikamaru gives her ego a nice boost.


RS: Wow, writing this went roughly from 1 am- 2:30 am and it's barely 3 pages! Oh well, it was originally written in third person past tense, then I changed it to first person past tense, and then I changed it to first person present tense, so a lot of editing was involved.

Warning, there _is_ a make-out scene at the end, but it's more citrus-light. It's lemonade. No, barely lemonade, it's lemonade that had a lot of ice in it and was left out in the sun so it's now just water with a hint of lemon. Okay, so maybe it's a _little_ worse than that, but I'm not coming up with another way to describe it. I'm too lazy.

**Disclaimer:** Me no own Naruto.

101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101

**Miserable**

I glance into the bathroom and look at her. She's just standing there, staring at herself in the mirror with a distant look in her eye. She'd been doing that more and more lately, and I couldn't help but wonder why. With a fleeting wonderment of why she had yet to notice me in the mirror, I chance a gaze into the reflection of her cerulean orbs. Pupil-less, but then they always were, and unusually melancholy. I curse that I.Q. of mine for being unable to determine womanly problems. It would be so much easier if my intelligence could translate into the female mind. Another moment passes and I decide to make my presence known.

"Oi, troublesome woman! What are you doing _now_?" Ino jumps slightly at the sound of my voice.

Blinking her eyes, she shakes her head and shook herself from her reverie, "N-nothing, I was just spacing out." She answers, "Did you need something?"

"Hai, Asuma-sensei says we're to meet in half an hour." I pause before correcting myself, "Well twenty minutes after the troublesome ten I just spent finding you."

"Gomen, Shikamaru, I was just-" I interrupt her unusually docile voice. It sounded so… _foreign_ coming from her, alien almost. A normal Ino would have shouted at me for using the word troublesome twice in the last fifteen seconds and shrieked that at least all that 'troublesome' work would get me up off my lazy ass. This girl said nothing of the sort and _apologized_. Ino never apologizes. Her mind _must_ be on an entirely separate plane of reality.

"Ino, what's wrong?" I decide to cut straight to the chase. After all, we had less than twenty minutes to figure out her problem and fix it. And with Ino the simplest task can become the most complicated ordeal.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Look, just tell me what it is so we can get this over with. I'm not in the mood to coerce any information out of you, so just come out and say it." She's silent for a moment as her eyes grow once more out of focus. She slides to the ground, sitting on her knees. I follow against a wall, wanting so bad to say something. I want to force her into cooperating, but I can't find the words. A silent Ino had to mean a serious issue.

"Shikamaru," she starts quietly, "am I pretty?"

"What?" I ask dumbly, taken aback by the question.

"Am I pretty?" she repeats.

I give her an incredulous look, "What are you asking me _that_ for?" I instantly regret those words the second I notice her crestfallen features.

"I didn't think so." I instinctively try to fix my mistake.

"I didn't say you weren't."

"But you meant it."

"No, I didn't. You look fine." Her next words are the barest of a whisper, but I hear them none-the-less.

"…But I need to be beautiful."

"Why?" I ask, confused.

"Why what?" she feigns ignorance.

"Why be beautiful? It has no real relevance to the world. Why do you focus so much on your appearance? It doesn't really matter."

Without a second of pause she explodes, "Because without my looks I have nothing to fall back on!"

"What are you talking about, that's ridiculous-" I attempt to sooth, but it's fruitless.

"I'm not like you Shikamaru, I haven't got brains. I'm not brilliant."

"You were the best Kunoichi in our class."

"All those grades meant was that I could memorize lines, they didn't make me any smarter. If I'm not pretty, then I have _nothing_. I'm not smart, I'm not strong, and I don't have _any_ talents what if this is all I am? Maybe just I'm unattractive, unintelligent, and unlovable."

I shake my head in confusion, "Ino, what brought all this on?" with a small sigh, she looks down.

"Remember that day, in the forest of death? We ran into that Hyuuga boy."

I nodd, "Yeah, Neji. So what?"

"Well… I hadn't been useful, at all. I figured I could at least help you and Choji by… I don't know what I was thinking but… oh never mind!" she shakes her head, and if I wasn't paying any attention I would have missed the tears building in her gaze, "You wouldn't understand. You've probably got better things to do than listen to me whine. Just… you can go." I internally roll my eyes, knowing I will regret this course of action in the future, but I can't just leave her like this: ready to cry in a such state of disesteem.

"Look, that Neji guy's oblivious and a fool." I state simply, leaning back against a wall and watching her out of the corner of my eye, "There's another girl who's practically throwing herself at him and he hasn't got a clue. That's the oblivious part. And he's obviously fool."

"I dunno," Ino shrugs sadly, "he seems pretty brilliant to me." Looking away from her slightly shivering form, I harden myself to say what I know will come back and bite me in the ass. But I know I have to tell her the truth, regardless of how miserable it might make me.

"He would have to be in order to pass up you."

"W-what?"

I shrug, digging my own grave, "You're beautiful, smart, a great Kunoichi… I don't see how any guy could find someone so wonderful undesirable."

Where were these words coming from? I have no idea. But somehow I know I meant them. I chance a peek at her. Her eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates, glued to a spot on the floor, with her mouth hanging slightly agape. One fist was clutched tightly to her chest as her other hand steadied her by resting on the floor. A breath was caught in her throat, and I could practically see her mind whirling as she attempted to process my words. A couple unintelligible noises escape her before she regains the ability to speak.

"Sh-Shikamaru," she turns to me almost fearfully, "do you really meant that?" I nod and she is silent for a moment. "Shika-kun?" I rotate my head toward her at the new nickname and open my mouth to answer, but words never escape for hers has found mine. My eyes widen as I realize that her skin truly is flawless even up-close and her sapphire pools are indeed deeper than any ocean, even when half-lidded. At my lack of response, she pulls back bashfully. Her cheeks are stained red with embarrassment and her eyes are downcast, unable to meet my gaze.

I'm first to break the awkward silence, "Ino-"

"Oh Shikamaru," she cries before I have a chance to say anything else, with her eyelids screwed shut and hot tears spilling over her long, luscious lashes, "I'm so sorry! I-" Once more, she's interrupted.

"Don't be."

Placing my hand at the base of her head, I pull her lips back onto mine. This time I manage to take in their velvety feel, gently brushing against my own. Her eyes had widened, but now they've settled themselves shut and I do the same. I slip my tongue out to taste the soft pink flesh. They're smooth and sweet, her lip-gloss slippery between us. She opens her mouth to respond and our tongues touch, only for a second, before hers darts back in. Ino's shy? I never would've guessed. We pull away for air, but that only lasts a moment before we're back in the same position. The blonde beauty situates her body on my lap, arms around my neck, while mine sit around her waist. She's light, but I've always imagined she would be. Once more my tongue slides out and she hesitantly opens, allowing me to poke and prod around. We're going by trial and error, as it's both our first time. I must be doing something right, though, because a low groan reverberated from her throat. I did the same as she had a bout of aggression where she moved onto her knees and kissed down onto me with unbridled passion. My fingers digging sliding up her skirt she sat back down and we made a bit more noise. I lightly trail down her neck, at which point she moaned and gasped my name, before returning to her lips for a final time. We pull away panting.

"We're going to be late." She whispers through swollen lips.

"Asuma-sensei can wait." And I move in once more.

That didn't make me as miserable as I thought it would.

101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101

RS: So what'd you think? It's only my second make-out scene, and I've never made out before, only been kissed a few times. So be nice. Please leave a review!


End file.
